After ‘no’ vote on ‘radical’ Merrick Garland, Rick Scott offers job advice

Image via AP.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott was not among the Republicans who voted to confirm Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Citing concerns about Garland being “on board with [President Joe] Biden‘s radical agenda” and fears that Garland might forsake the rule of law and “politicize” the Justice Department, the Naples Republican justified his vote earlier this week on Twitter.

However, despite apparent deal-breaking worries that Garland is out of the mainstream of American politics, Scott offered the Biden AG some advice in a letter made public Friday afternoon.

“Our laws cannot be haphazardly enforced depending on the politics of the day,” the Senator, who also heads up the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2022 cycle, chided Garland. The AG was previously best known as a President Barack Obama Supreme Court nominee not given a vote by the Republican-controlled Senate in 2016.

As Biden continues to move away from former President Donald Trump‘s approach to illegal immigration from Mexico and points south, Scott advises Garland to take a “firm and objective position” opposed to the White House.

“Under the Biden Administration, we have witnessed a growing humanitarian crisis on our Southern border. I want to be clear — this crisis is occurring because of the dangerous rhetoric of amnesty and open borders advocated for by President Biden. The United States is a nation built on immigration and we should continue to encourage people to live their dreams in our country — but it has to be done legally. The DOJ must take a firm and objective position on this matter: follow the law as it is written,” Scott counseled.

The Senator also advised the new AG to take a hard look at the President’s Executive Orders.

“As President Biden issues executive orders at a historic pace, the DOJ has an obligation to evaluate the constitutionality of these policies and protect the rights of American citizens, particularly those enshrined in the First and Second Amendments,” Scott advises, before issuing a staunch defense of free speech.

“Similarly, we rely upon the DOJ to ensure that no American is unfairly silenced — on a college campus or elsewhere — from freely exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. It is my sincere hope and expectation that as the Biden Administration considers executive actions or other policies concerning gun control or free speech, the DOJ will perform its duty of demanding that these policies respect our most fundamental and cherished American rights.”